The excruciating wait for Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is a blessing and a curse for the action RPG

Jan. 21, 2024

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Time, the great teaser

I’ve said this umpteen times before, but I’m a firm believer in developers taking their time behind the scenes. I’d much rather wait longer for something than pay for something that’s been hauled from the oven too soon, and therefore will never criticize the decision to delay or sit on games until they’re absolutely ready. That said, this stance never makes the wait itself any easier, especially when it applies to something like Elden Ring’s first official slice of added content. I, like any Elden Ring fan out there, cannot wait to sink my teeth into whatever’s next, and the fact that we still don’t know, well,anythingabout Shadow of the Erdtree is equally wonderful and mind-bending.

Approaching the two-year mark without a sniff of official communication beyond a single image is unprecedented against FromSoftware’s previous base game-to-DLC timelines, but Elden Ring itself is likewise unprecedented in terms of its stature and scale. It’s abiggame, with scores of characters, locations, baddies and bosses, so it makes sense that its first expansion matches that ambition and execution. The thing is: that’s a bit of a double-edged Greatsword. Yes, it’s good that FromSoftware is taking its time to get Shadow of the Erdtree just right, but the wait has also generated more hype than I’ve ever seen among the Soulsborne community – even more so than before the arrival of Elden Ring itself.

While we still don’t know what to expect from Shadow of the Erdtree, the Elden Ring community knows what it wants:more of the same.But Elden Ring was so good, that simply delivering more, clearly, isn’t as easy as it sounds. So, what we’re left with is the dichotomy of patiently waiting and allowing our imaginations to run wild. Had FromSoftware fired out a half-baked DLC in the first six months post-launch, expectations would have been lower. If the quality wasn’t there, fans would have spoken up, and the developer would have risked disrupting the base game’s unshakable momentum – especially in that first year. Instead, FromSoftware chose to take its time, in turn raising the bar of expectation sky high.

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